“I would never have bought a DeSoto in its original form. Never.” Kent Hellberg’s own words… However, he made an exception after seeing this DeSoto in a used car sales ad for the twentieth time. It’s easy to understand why. There are finned cars… and then there are fine cars!

Ten years. That’s how long the DeSoto was for sale before Kent Hellberg finally pulled the trigger. No, the car wasn’t constantly advertised for a decade, but on and off, here and there, from 2007 to 2016.

“I tried to haggle a little, and the seller said he could lower the price by 25,000 SEK. But then I wouldn’t get the newly rebuilt 440 V8 engine or the newly refurbished transmission…” Hellberg says.

In the end, Kent paid the full price – for a car in parts. The seller had been working on the car from 1989 to 2006 but never finished. The first sale ad appeared in 2007.

“I remember the seller had written that there was ‘one week of wrenching left to finish the last bits: bleeding the brakes, some paint, and interior work.’ It wasn’t quite that simple. I bought the car in 2016, and it took about a year to complete the build,” Hellberg laughs.

He particularly remembers the trip to go see the DeSoto.

“It was in August 2016. My wife and daughter were with me, and I could practically see my wife thinking, ‘I hope he doesn’t buy it.’ She didn’t even get out of the car at first and recommended a brain scan after the purchase was finalized. If they are happy today, a couple of years later? Sure, they think the car is stylish, although they’d prefer to ride in a convertible. Oh, and that black roof, my wife still doesn’t like it,” Hellbergs says with a big smile.

What Hellberg fell for, despite his genuine disinterest in finned cars, was the style. The gigantic rear tires, the widened wheel arches and the relocated frame rails. The foundation for something cool was there, and Hellberg could finish the job.

“There’s probably nothing I haven’t tinkered with, except for the engine and rear axle. I had to refurbish the transmission one more time and install a hydraulic brake booster, the only thing that fit. I rerouted the exhaust pipes, rewired the electrical system, and modified the fuel tank with a filler neck and the gas cap in the right taillight, a tank that the previous owner had placed in the trunk. I also installed a heater core and painted the car, among other things,” Hellberg says.

When the work was done, Hellberg sent a cellular phone text message with photos to the previous owner.

“I wrote that he probably didn’t want to see how the car turned out, but I wanted to show him anyway. I never got a response,” Hellberg chuckles.

What about the engine and drivetrain? The only part, apart from the transmission, Hellberg hasn’t touched. Does it match those massive rear wheels?

“There’s a 440 cui engine in the DeSoto, built by ‘The Baron’ in the Swedish village Bettna in the 1990s. I’d estimate it delivers about 500 horsepower. Not astronomical numbers today, but it was a fair amount back then when Lennart (The Baron) put together the V8. It’s got a forged crankshaft and dual Edelbrock carburetors, 600 cfm each, on top. With the right gearing and those massive tires, something exciting could happen. Today, it pulls well if you push it at 80 km/h, but it’s not as impressive from a standstill,” Hellberg notes.

The rest of the drivetrain consists of a 727 transmission and an 8 3/4-inch rear axle with 3.23:1 gearing and a limited-slip differential. A pretty classic Mopar_® combination, in other words.

Present at the photo shoot is Hellberg’s father, Ivar. It’s hard to miss that the two seem to have a great father-son relationship, and they look quite alike, even if neither one would ever admit it.

Ivar talks about his own car passion, which is quite broad. Currently, he’s in love with a super-green 1978 Lincoln Continental, a love affair not shared by his son. How that’s possible is beyond me. Who wouldn’t be fond of a six-meter-long car with opera windows and an eight-liter V8 producing a whopping 200 horsepower? So impractical, it’s charming.

“Ivar has always been there to support me. If there was something I couldn’t manage when I was young, Dad was there. Now it’s the other way around. By the way, we’re traveling to the U.S. soon. ‘It’s now or never,’ Ivar says. We’re going to the Daytona Turkey Run, and the idea was actually his,” Kent explains.

Cars, by the way, seem to run in the family. Both Kent’s daughter and son are now more or less vehicle enthusiasts.

“My son bought himself a ’67 Pontiac Firebird a while ago,” Kent says with pride.

It’s shaping up nicely, with the third generation of Hellbergs set to start wearing down the asphalt. Who knows, maybe they’ll soon be as fond of finned cars as their dad. Or start digging Titanic-sized Lincolns from the late 1970s like Grandpa…